On A Clear Day (2004/British)
Picture: C+
Sound: B- Extras: D Film: B-
In yet another of a very long-running cycle of British
films (and U.K. pictures in general) of working class people looking for their
dreams and struggling with dysfunction, Gaby Dellal’s On A Clear Day
(2004) tells the tales of an unhappy husband (Peter Mullan) who wants to swim
the English Channel. Can he get the
energy and build the enthusiasm to make it?
Well, his wife is played by the great Brenda Blethyn,
which unfortunately means shorthand for melodramatic trouble. However, the film is as good as any in the
struggle-and-be-happy cycle, but it has worn a bit thin at this point and the
fact that Billy Elliot has become a stage musical says how much this
kind of story has turned to formula.
However, it is well cast, nicely paced, sincerely acted and directed
just smoothly enough to be watchable.
However, films like this are running out of steam.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image lacks detail
and is somewhat soft, with David Johnson, B.S.C., offering cinematography
typical of the cycle. The Dolby Digital
5.1 mix sports some well-recorded dialogue and makes better uses of the
surrounds than usual, but nothing extraordinary. There are no extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
